Challah is a Jewish braided bread. It is a traditional meal for Sabbath, which is starting on Friday night. There are three-, four- (or even more) strand challahs. It can be sprinkled with poppy seeds or sesame seeds before baking.

Preparation time: 180 minutes

For how many loaves?:

Ingredients (2 loaves per recipe)

For the dough:
500 g flour
40 g sugar
20 g honey
1 egg
30 g yeast
200 ml warm water
60 g butter
7 g salt

For spreading:
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

Preparation

1. Combine every ingredient, except the water, in a bowl. Make sure not to let yeast and salt meet directly. Then pour the water in, too, and knead the dough until smooth.

2. Cover the dough with a damp cloth, and leave it to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

3. On a floured pastry board form the dough and roll into a thick cylinder. Divide into 6 equal parts (140 g each). Form balls of the dough.

4. Roll the balls into approximately 70 cm long, rope-like strands. The ends of the strands should be thinner than the rest.

5. Braid the strands. Place the loaves on a baking sheet covered with silicone baking paper, cover them with a damp cloth, and let the dough rise in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.

6. When risen, spread the loaves with the egg-milk mixture, and bake in the preheated oven at 180 C (356 F) for 25-30 minutes.